Falklands : Hydrocarbons Daily Record Thursday, 21 August 2008
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 22.08.2008 (Article Archived on 05.09.2008)
Crude prices increased significantly today on a weakening US Dollar and the situation in Georgia.
HYDROCARBONS DAILY RECORD THURSDAY, 21 AUGUST 2008
By J. Brock (FINN)
At 1930hrs LMT on Thursday, 21 August 2008 Light Sweet Crude was trading at $121.18 up $5.62 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent Crude was trading at $120.16 up $5.80 on London’s ICE Futures Market.
ANALYSIS:
Crude prices increased significantly today on a weakening US Dollar and the situation in Georgia. HDR can understand the weakening dollar causing prices to be adjusted but this adjustment is not proportionate with the amount by which the dollar was weakened. With Russia poised to pull out of Georgia the rest of today’s increase was pure extortion.
HDR also feels that the refining process needs to be looked at in that worries about gasoline supplies are directly linked to refining capacity. Last week’s 85.7 result was far below (approximately 10%) optimum capacity, which is between 95 and 97%. HDR maintains that profit money earned from extortionate crude prices should be used to replace and or properly maintain ageing infrastructure.
With end product prices so high more people who can afford them are using heating oil and crude more efficiently. People are insulating their houses and augmenting this by using alternative transport and energy to cut down heating and transport costs.
At the end of the day, if people can’t afford hydrocarbons products, they won’t buy them and, like it or not, demand will drop.
RELATED ARTICLE:
(Crude Prices)
Oil prices shot up more than $5 a barrel Thursday, rising to the highest level in over two weeks as escalating tensions with Russia stoked fears of supply disruptions to the West.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5TtajgUpSm7KY5jf-lCJGHBB-tAD92MRORO1
(Opinion)
Last week, falling oil prices looked unstoppable. The last few days have seen a halt in that slide. Still with prices well below the record set in July and a shaky world economy threatening demand, the question remains: How low can oil go?
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/21/news/economy/oil_price_floor/
(Analysis)
We are set for a grim winter on the energy front - utilities are scrambling to buy gas at ever higher prices and the price of oil, which seemed to be cooling, is heating up again, agitated by war in the Caucasus, oil nationalism, China and Opec.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article4584397.ece
SHARE PRICES ON THE ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT MARKET: Thursday, 21 August 2008.
TLW: 799.50 up 58.00, DES: 81.00 down 3.00, FOGL: 125.25 up 1.75 RKH: 66.00 up 0.75, BOR: 62.00 up 6.25 PRE: 11.75 unchanged GBP: 7.13 unchanged GPK: 419.00 unchanged, BLT 1670.00 up 48.00, RDSA: 1850.00 up 30.00, RDSB: 1820.00 up 27.00
New York Stock Exchange:
XOM: 78.68 up 0.73 (Trading in USD)
THE MARKETS (21/08/08)
FTSE100: 5,370.20 down 1.57 FTSE250: 8,939.10 up 41.77 SmallCap: 2,774.30 up 7.56
DJI: 11,430.21 up 12.78 NASDAQ: 2,380.38 down 8.70 S&P500: 1,227.72 up 3.18
US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ADMINISTRATION INVENTORY REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 15/08/08
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS:
(North Sea Oil)
Nick Clegg has set a deadline of 2050 for Britain to become energy independent, saying there needed to be a cross-party dedication to the project equal to that required to put a man on the moon.
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/policing-and-crime/environment-and-rural-affairs/clegg-uk-must-be-energy-independent-by-2050-$1237401.htm
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS:
(Brazil)
Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras is pledging to spend US$1 billion on Bolivian oil and gas projects - making it the first foreign energy company to invest in Bolivia since President Evo Morales nationalized the industry in 2006.
http://www.cftktv.com/news/13/775527
(Chile)
GeoPark Holdings Limited (AIM: GPK), the oil and gas exploration and production company with assets in Chile and Argentina, announces the appointment of Juan Cristóbal Pavez, 38 years old, as Non-Executive Director of the Company, effective 13 August 2008 following his election at the Company's Annual General Meeting.
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/LSECWS/IFSPages/MarketNewsPopup.aspx?id=1935651&source=RNS
(Peru)
Indigenous rights groups called off more than a week of protests on Wednesday at two key Peruvian energy sites after congressional leaders moved to throw out a controversial land law issued by President Alan Garcia.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/20/AR2008082003683.html
LOCAL NEWS:
(Hedge Fund)
The bulk of the fund's investments are in small natural resource companies such as African Minerals Ltd., a London-based diamond miner, Falklands Oil and Gas Ltd., which has oil prospects in the South Atlantic, and Oxus Gold Plc, a holding company for precious-metal mining investments in Asia.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aQ4X.qyUIHg0&refer=uk
LOCAL LINKS:
http://www.fogl.com
http://www.desireplc.co.uk
http://www.bordersandsouthern.com
http://www.rockhopperexploration.co.uk.
IMPORTANT LINK:
http://www.onegeology.org/
DISCLAIMER: The sources for related articles come from a variety of websites so that readers can get as wide a selection of views as possible. HDR does not necessarily align itself with any of the views expressed.
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